Changed Forever
by TheLightBulbPokemon
Summary: Shizuka's parents have just died from a house fire, and Shizuka, being the supposed genius she is, has been taken to live at Wammy's House, where she meets B. BBxOC  I fail at summaries, so don't base the story on the summary
1. Chapter 1: New

**Chapter 1: New**

Shizuka stared out the tinted windows of the black car, watching as raindrops raced down the windows. Sighing, she leaned back and looked towards the driver, an older man with white hair and a chevron mustache to match, named Watari.

"How much longer until we get there?" She asked, referring to the orphanage she'd soon be calling her home.

"Another ten minutes" He replied, not looking away from the road. _Another ten minutes of wondering what the hell is so special about this place, _Shizuka thought to herself. She had been _sentenced_, as she put it, to this place. Something about being smarter than normal and putting her skills to use; that was all they told her. For all Shizuka knew they could be putting her to work as a chimney sweep, like the cliché English orphan that she was. _If my parents were going to die they could have at least given birth to me somewhere else, I don't want to be a cliché, _the thought of her parents made her upset. If that man hadn't 'accidently' set fire to their apartment building they'd still be alive. A tear escaped and Shizuka quickly wiped it away. She hadn't cried since she first found out about their death, wouldn't allow herself to be so overcome by it, and other peoples' pity that came with it. They all asked the same questions: "Are you ok?" "How are you holding up?" "If you ever need any help, just ask". But Shizuka didn't want their charity; she was fine on her own. Or she would be if she wasn't only sixteen; old enough to drive, and drink*, but technically not old enough to live alone. She could if she wanted to, but that would mean having to have a job and pay bills, and Shizuka didn't want to have to do that quiet yet. She stared at her lap, thinking about the past, wishing her parents were still alive.

When Shizuka looked up again, a large building, surrounded by black ornate gates, loomed ahead. _The orphanage, I'd assume_, she thought, staring at the building. It seemed pretty nice, or at least roomy. The car stopped and Shizuka opened her door, stepping out. It was cold outside, being February, and the raindrops stung her skin. She pulled her jacket closer and walked to the trunk, where Watari had already pulled out her one suitcase, filled with whatever belongings of hers had survived the fire. She grabbed the handle and followed Watari to the building.

Inside, Shizuka stood in what could be best described as the 'living room' while Watari went to get someone to show her around. While waiting, she grabbed her mp3 player out of her suitcase and shoved the earphones on. She had forgotten to take it out before she left, and an hour without any music was too long. Music was practically her drug. As the lyrics to the song "Lullabies" blasted in her ears Shizuka felt much better, the song letting her become engrossed in her own world for a little while. She closed her eyes and quietly sang along _"Make it a sweet, sweet goodbye - it could be for the last time and it's not right. "Don't let yourself get in over your head," he said. Alone and far from home we'll find you...Dead - like a candle you burnt out"_

When the song finished and Shizuka opened her eyes again a boy, looking to be around eighteen, was standing there. He had messy black hair that stood out against his pale face, and he was slightly hunched over. Shizuka took her earphones off and put them around her neck, the music still playing. She took in his plain attire, a white shirt and jeans with no shoes, before looking back up at his face.

"Hello" She said shyly, worried that he had heard her singing.

He nodded to her "Hey" then turned and started walking away, then looked back as if thinking she would just follow. _Does he just expect me to know what he's thinking? _She thought, then sighed and started walking in the same direction he did.

"Where are we going?" Shizuka asked the boy.

"I've been instructed to show you to your room" He replied.

"Oh, ok…so, what's your name?" She asked.

"Everyone here goes by an alias. I'm known as…B, or Backup" The way he said it made Shizuka think he despised the name.

"Oh, ok, that's…ok. So I guess I'll end up with an alias too. So, uh…well, um, why is your hair dyed?" It seemed like an odd question, but she figured as long as she didn't ask anything personal, which, in theory, dyed hair _could _be, he wouldn't care. Of course, her assumptions were wrong.

B stopped walking, seeming perplexed by the question, "What?"

"Why is your hair dyed? I've never met anyone with dyed hair, my mom was kind of strict about the people I hung around, and people with dyed hair seemed to be 'bad influences' in her eyes. I never got why…" She trailed off.

"How did you know my hair was dyed?" He asked.

"Well the hair around the nape of your neck is slightly lighter than the rest of your hair, though most people wouldn't noticed because the rest of your hair covers it; also, your hair is only one shade, I mean, since it's black people probably wouldn't think twice about it, but natural hair is lighter in the front and gets darker in the back, while yours is the same shade all around. And your eyebrows are a tad lighter than your hair, nothing too noticeable though if one wasn't thinking about it. I'm guessing your natural hair color was a dark brown - very, very close to black"

He stared at her for a second, then simply said "You're observant" And kept walking.

Shizuka started following again, "Yeah, a lot of people tell me that. I tend to notice the little things." She caught up and was walking next to him "Anyways, you didn't answer my question"

B ignored her, and instead looked ahead.

"Sorry if I talk too much, I tend to do that around people I think are-" She stopped talking, realizing what she was about to say, _around people I think are cute. _Shizuka took a deep breath in, deciding to go back to her quite side that she showed in the car.

After walking up a flight of stairs and down another hallway in silence, B stopped in front of a door.

"Here's your room" He told her, then walked away. _What the hell? He just leaves me? What if I couldn't get the door open? _Shizuka smiled _How stupid would that be, I was brought to this orphanage because I'm a 'genius' and I can't even open a door. That would certainly be special. _She let a small laugh escape at the thought, and opened the door to her new room, immediately heading to the bed to sleep.

*In most European countries and the UK 16 is the legal drinking age.


	2. Chapter 2: Who The Hell Are These People

**Chapter 2: Who The Hell Are These People?**

The next morning Shizuka was awoken by a knock on her door. She slowly got up and stretched out, noticing she hadn't changed out of her normal clothes. _Oh well, it was just a nap. _She thought, looking out the window and realizing it looked more like morning than evening. She checked the clock and saw it was 7am. _I must've been more tired than I thought. _

Shizuka walked over and opened the door to see a young red haired boy standing there, holding a Game Boy in one hand. He looked about twelve, and was staring up at her with slightly sad eyes.

"Hi" She said awkwardly, not totally sure what to do, "Um, who are you?"

"Matt" The boy, Matt, said quietly.

"Ok, um, Matt, why are you here?"

"My Game Boy ran out of batteries just as I was about to win, and I can't find any. Do you have some?" He said most of this while staring at his Game Boy, but as he asked he looked up at her and gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Just the ones in my mp3 player…"

"May I use them?" He said it in the cutest way, and mixed with the eyes, how could Shizuka resist?

"Uh, well…fine" She sighed then turned to get the batteries. _Damn kids having to look all cute and innocent and irresistible, _she kept thinking as she grabbed the batteries and handed them to him. As he walked off Shizuka realized that she now had no batteries, which meant no music. _Well this is great, how am I supposed to get through the day without music? _Even though she had planned on laying in her room until she had to come out, Shizuka decided that since she was bored, she mine as well walk around. The place was big, and as Shizuka wandered through the various hallways she knew she was going to become lost. It would be a good distraction though, it meant she would be alone with her thoughts but she wouldn't be concentrating on them.

Along the way she managed to find the kitchen, and at the perfect time since she was getting hungry, having not eaten since the night before. She had been too anxious to eat breakfast this morning and there had been no stopping for lunch. It wasn't quiet dinner time yet, probably not for another hour, so Shizuka figured it would be okay to dig around for something to satisfy her until then. She opened the fridge, looking through its contents, and found some chocolate in the back. _Hmm, chocolate does make everything better, which is kind of what I need right now, and it's a good snack since it's not very big, plus there are so many back there no one is going to notice if one bar is gone, _Shizuka told herself, and convinced herself to eat it. She grabbed one of the rectangles and shut the fridge door, leaning against it as she opened the wrapper. Little did Shizuka know there happened to be a boy in that orphanage that loved chocolate, and could practically hear the wrapper from anywhere in that house. Before she knew it, that little boy was bolting threw the house, ready to fight for his chocolate. The door flew opened and Shizuka was tackled by a yellow and black blur. The chocolate flew out of her hand as Shizuka hit the floor. When she looked to see what had just hit her she saw a boy, or he seemed to be a boy,* of about twelve, with blonde hair that reached about his chin and all black clothes, on top of her, an angry gleam in his eyes.

"How dare you touch my chocolate!" He yelled in her face. "That's mine and everyone knows it! Touch it again and you'll pay!"

_This kid tackled me and was blowing out my eardrums over chocolate? What a brat_, Shizuka thought to herself as she stared up at him. "Get off of me" She calmly said.

"Not until you apologize for touching my chocolate" He replied.

"No, I won't, because you over reacted when I didn't even know it was yours. I would say sorry if you had been nicer about it"

The kids face turned into a scowl that very clearly showed he was pissed at her. "Say sorry!"

"No!" And with that she pushed the kid off her and quickly stood up; then, being defiant as she tended to be, Shizuka picked up the chocolate and took a bite. Clearly this was not okay with the boy, who jumped up and tried to either grab for it or tackle her, he ended up doing both. Shizuka held the bar above her head even as she stumbled back against his impact.

"You're a jerk! How dare you eat my food!" The kid yelled some more as he continually jumped for the chocolate while body slamming her. Really the scene could have looked very awkward, and typically Shizuka would have laughed, except she was concentrating more on keeping the treat away.

Soon, as was expected with all the noise they were making, someone finally came into the room to see what was going on.

"Mello!" The man yelled, and both of them stopped and looked at him. He was an older man who was starting to go bald, his hair already gray. Something about him reminded Shizuka of Benjamin Franklin, or a grandpa.

Obviously this man had the kid, Mello's, respect, because he immediately moved away from Shizuka and looked up at the man.

"But she took my chocolate!" Mello pointed back at Shizuka accusingly.

"I didn't know it was his until he tackled me and yelled that I apologize" She defended.

"Mello, come here" The man said and the two walked out into the hallway, presumably so she couldn't hear them.

When they came back in the blonde boy seemed much calmer. "Sorry" He mumbled, though he didn't sound very sorry. "Can you please not eat my chocolate?"

Shizuka looked at Mello, his head was down, his hands behind his back, and he was doing that cute toe thing that kids do to seem, well…cute. "Oh, fine, here, take it" She held out the chocolate to him, and he took it quickly, looking greedy, and ran off.

"Sorry about that," The older man said, "When Mello came here after his parents death, he started eating chocolate as a way to cope, and eating it every day seemed to have stuck with him. Most of the children here have something like that, a way to cope with their emotions that ends up becoming an addiction. It ranges from books, to toys, to certain types of food. Anyways, you're the newest member of Wammy's House correct?"

Shizuka nodded, "Yeah, and who are you?"

"Roger Ruvie, manager of Wammy's House when Watari isn't around" He told her.

"Oh, ok. Nice to meet you, I'm Shizuka"

"I know. We'll have to find a good alias for you to use, can't have anyone knowing your real name"

This line confused Shizuka, "Why can't anyone know my real name?"

"Has no one told you what Wammy's House is about?"

Shizuka shook her head, causing Roger to sigh, seemingly in exasperation.

"The purpose for the children of Wammy's House is to create a successor to the world's greatest detective, L."

"I don't know who L is" She felt stupid for saying that, especially since if this person, L, was the world's greatest detective, she thought she would know about him.

"He's solved countless cases and is extremely intelligent, the best there is."

"And this place exists so when he dies someone else can be him?" The concept seemed strange, and was certainly a lot of pressure to put on these kid "genius's". _What if one of them didn't want to? I personally wouldn't mind since I was planning on doing something in criminal justice, but what about the ones that just want to be normal kids, not in some orphanage where they have to life up to this guy L? _

"Correct, and that's all you need to know. I assume when Watari dropped you off he assigned someone to show you around?" Roger said, bringing Shizuka out of her thoughts.

"Um, yeah" She nodded, _though where he is, is beyond me, _Shizuka thought, a bit annoyed that B, who was supposed to be her guide, had just left her.

"Good. Well, if you need anything ask any of the children, or come to me if it's urgent. And if you come up with an alias, let me know" And with that Roger left.

"Ok, cool, I'm glad to see you care so much" Shizuka mumbled sarcastically as she turned back to the fridge, noting not to take any chocolate, and just to be safe, anything chocolate flavored. In the end she picked some grapes to eat, figuring no one would care if the healthy food was gone. _Unless a kid is addicted to grapes, then I'm screwed, _she jokingly thought, smiling, _anyways, an alias, what should be my alias? _Shizuka went through names in her head that started with S, not wanting to differ too much from her real name.

She ended up searching for the library, deciding to look through some books to find a name. Of course, the place was big so it took awhile to find it, and after fifteen minutes of searching she finally did. Not surprisingly, it was extremely large, bigger than the public library back home. _Of course, aspiring genius's need plenty of compelling literature to make their minds grow so one day they can hopefully be this L guy. _She went through the rows and rows of books, opening every couple to see if she could find a name. Eventually she reached the back of the library with no luck in finding a name, though she did find twenty or so computers sitting back there. The boy that took her batteries earlier, Matt, was sitting on one, staring at his screen intensely while his hands flew over the keys. Apparently he had moved on from the Game Boy to computer gaming. She sat next to him and looked at what he was playing, something with a guy in a red hat and a jumpsuit hopping around and yelling 'yahoo!' in an Italian accent. Not interested, Shizuka got up and went back to looking threw more books so she could find a name, of course none could be found. Finally, she gave up, frustrated that she wasted all this time with nothing to show for it except a half-hour wasted. Looking at her watch, Shizuka saw it was already 5:10pm, and figured dinner must be soon. _Mine as well go ask that Matt kid how dinner works here, _she thought, turning around and heading back to the boy.

"Hey" She said as she sat next to him again. He didn't seem to notice her. "Hello? Kid? Matt?" She poked him.

He paused the game and turned to her, seeming just slightly irritated that she had interrupted his game time, "What?"

"How does dinner time work around here?"

"They'll announce it over the PA system" Matt pointed to the speaker above their heads.

"Oh, ok, thanks" She got up, about to leave, when he started talking to her.

"Here's some batteries to replace the ones you let me borrow" He said, holding up two double A's.

_Sweet Hallelujah yes! Now I can listen to my musical drug!, _Shizuka thought, the batteries practically glowing angelically in his hand. She grabbed them and quickly thanked him before speed-walking, then running, back to her room.

When she got there Shizuka shoved the double A's in her player and put the headphones in her ears, letting the music wash over her. She fell back on her bed, closing her eyes, in total bliss. _"Strange maze, what is this place? I hear voices over my shoulder, nothing's making sense at all. Wonder, why do we race? When everyday we're runnin' in circles, such a funny way to fall. Tried to open up my eyes, I'm hoping for a chance to make it alright. When I wake up, the dream isn't done. I wanna see your face, and know I made it home. If nothing is true, what more can I do? I am still painting flowers for you"_ Shizuka sang the lyrics passionately to "Painting Flowers" by All Time Low, one of her favorite slower songs. The day seemed to lighten a bit more now that she had sweet musical melodies floating in her ears

*Don't take offense to that Mello fan girls, I love him too, but you have to admit he is a bit feminine


	3. Chapter 3: Baby, It's A New Name

**Chapter 3: Baby, It's A New Name**

Engrossed in her music, Shizuka didn't even hear the announcement for dinner or the knock on her door. She didn't even open her eyes until the person at her door came over to her bed and tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to startle and suddenly sit up, seeing said person, who happened to be B.

"Oh my god! Don't do that you scared me! For all I know you could've been a fucking serial killer or something!" Shizuka yelled, still freaked out.

B grinned, it was amused and slightly creepy, "How would a serial killer get in this room? The window is on the third floor and there's too many people around to just walk in"

Shizuka took a deep breath in, if his words of wisdom were supposed to be comforting, they weren't, "It could happen okay? If someone was for some reason really intent on killing me they could"

"Is there someone intent on killing you?"

"Not that I can think of" She replied, partly lying, _the arsonist could be after me, he may have been after my parents originally…or it could've just been a coincidence, _she still wasn't sure why the man had chosen her house to burn down, it could've just been that it looked extremely flammable or picked at random, but it could also be that maybe her parents had some deep secret or something, and he had wanted the whole family dead. _But I'll never know unless they catch him, which they won't, so I shouldn't think over such morbid thoughts, I'm safe here, it's okay, _that thought comforted Shizuka, if only a little, and she was now calm enough to wonder why the hell B was in her room anyways. It's not like earlier he had seemed so concerned that she was fine.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"They announced dinner, and I figured you wouldn't know the way there, and it looks like you didn't even hear the announcement"

"No, I was busy listening to music...and thinking some things over"

"Like what?" Clearly, he didn't understand the concept of personal.

"Like…well, for one I need an alias"

"That's easy"

"Not really, I don't want to just pick a name. If I have to be called by something else, I want it to be something good" Shizuka said, starting to get annoyed by B.

"Yes it is. What's the first letter of your name?" B asked, though, at this point, Shizuka didn't realize he already knew it.

"S"

"Ok, what's your favorite thing in the world, or something that defines you?"

_Well that's easy, _thought Shizuka, _music, it's my life, _"That'd probably be music" She told him.

"Ok, well you could go with a name based off a word relating to music that starts with S"

Shizuka thought of all the words she knew music based that started with S, "So, let's see, staccato, scale, serenade, scherzo, scordatura, septet, sextet, sequence, sharp, slide, um…slur, sonata, sonatina, soprano, staff, stretto, suite, symphony, and system. I think that's it"

"Well, already there are ones that obviously wouldn't be very good names, even if we changed them a bit; like scale, scordatura, septet, sextet, sequence, sharp, slide, slur, staff, and system. Then there are the ones that might work; like staccato, scherzo, soprano, suite, symphony. And last are the ones that would probably make the best names with a little editing; sonata, sonatina, serenade, and stretto." He listed the words off the top of his head with no problem, as if he had memorized them.

_Damn, I wish I had a memory like that, _she thought, _no wonder he's here if he can remember all that in one go, _"Well, I don't really like sonata or sonatina as names. Stretto doesn't really work for me either. And serenade could work, just how would I change it?" Shizuka mumbled, mostly talking to herself.

Of course B ended up saying something in the matter anyways, "You could change it to something like Serena?"

"Serena? Actually, that's really pretty, I like it."

"Anyways, it's dinner time." And then B turned and walked away.

_I really don't get him, _Shizuka thought, setting her mp3 player down then getting up to follow him.

-It's a short chapter, I know, but I felt dinner needed to be a seperate one. And the reason the chapter title is named what it is, is because I've had the song title (not the song, just the song title) Baby It's A New Age stuck in my head (I've never even heard the song before :)-


End file.
